Reversible foam mattress having different degrees of firmness



Oct. 20, 1970 T. c. BOYLES 3,534,417

REVERSIBLE FOAM MATTRESS HAVING DIFFERENT DEGREES OF FIRMNESS Filed July 8, 1968 FIG. 22 20 26 ,/0 v 24 INVENTOR Truman 6. Boy/es ATTORNEY Umted States Patent .0

3,534,417 REVERSIBLE FOAM MATTRESS HAVING DIFFERENT DEGREES F FIRMNESS Truman C. Boyles, 315 N. Fairfax St., Alexandria, Va. 22314 Filed July 8, 1968, Ser. No. 743,175 Int. Cl. A47c 23/00, 27/22 US. Cl. -345 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This invention is a reversible foam mattress having different degress of firmness on its opposite horizontal sides and consists of two layers of yieldably resiliently compressible layers of foam material, each layer being of a different degree of firmness than the other layer. The layers of material are secured together at the opposite longitudinal ends of the mattress, leaving a passageway or pocket intermediate the longitudinal ends, and one or two rigid plates, depending on the width of the mattress, whether a single or a double mattress, so that by inserting a rigid plate in the passageway, the intermediate portion of the mattress is provided with a selection of a further degree of firmness. In a double mattress, two plates are provided, so that each occupant may select the desired degree of additional firmness, irrespective of the other occupant. The foam material may be synthetic plastic expanded material or other suitable composition, but also may be natural foam such as sponge rubber, and both layers may be of the same foam material of different degrees of hardness, or may be of different foam materials of different degrees of hardness so long as they may be secured together in layers adjacent their opposite longitudinal ends.

This invention relates to a reversible foam mattress having different degrees of firmness on its opposite horizontal sides, and is an improvement over applicants prior US. Pat. No. 3,089,154 issued May 14, 1963.

OBJECTS OF INVENTION This invention relates to a reversible foam mattress and has for an object to provide a foam mattress having different degrees of firmness on its opposite horizontal sides, whereby by reversing the mattress, the user may select a mattress surface that is firmer, or less firm, than the other mattress surface.

A further object of this invention is to provide a selectable, additional degree of firmness to an intermediate portion of the foam mattress between its longitudinal ends thus providing a still firmer support, when needed, to the back of the user.

A still further object of this invention is to provide a reversible foam mattress wherein the user may select any of several degrees of firmness in the mattress, such as firm, or extra firm, over an entire horizontal surface area of the foam mattress, and in addition, may add another degree of firmness or extra firmness to the intermediate portion of the mattress surface that is used for supporting the back of the user while the end portions retain their unchanged degree of firmness, and as an additional feature in a double bed mattress, either occupant may add this additional degree of firmness or extra firmness to the mid-portion, irrespective of whether the other occupant does or does not add this mid-portion additional firmness.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF INVENTION This invention is a reversible mattress made of two horizontal layers of foam material secured together adjacent their longitudinal ends, unsecured at the intermediate area thus providing a pocket or passageway, the

mattress having an enveloping mattress cover having an opening coinciding with the passageway opening, at least at one end, in the case of a single bed mattress, and an opening at each end in the case of a double width mattress, and the cover passageway opening is provided with a separable fastener, of a type commercially known as a Zipper. A sleeve is provided in the passageway to facilitate the insertion or removal, as desired, of a rigid plate to add the additional firmness in the mid-area of the mattress when desired. In the case of a double bed mattress, two rigid plates are provided for use in the passageway or pocket, with a separable fastener at each end of the passageway, so that either occupant may add or omit the rigid plate irrespective of whether the other occupant desires or does not desire the additional firmness at the mid-area.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF FIGURES With the above and related objects in View, this inventiton consists in the details of construction and combination of parts, as will be more fully understood from the following description, when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is a top plan view, partly broken away, of a double bed reversible foam mattress of this invention.

FIG. 2 is a vertical side view of the mattress of this invention.

FIG. 3 is a section on line 33 of FIG. 2, through an end area of the mattress, on a larger scale.

FIG. 4 is a section view through a mid-area of the mattress with firmness-adding rigid plate in position, on a larger scale.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF INVENTION There is shown at 10 the reversible foam mattress of this invention. The mattress 10 is made of two horizontal layers 12 and 14 of foam material of different degrees of firmness, the layers 12 and 14 being secured together at 16 at their end areas or portions 18, and are left unsecured at their intermediate portions 20, the portion generally occupied by the back of the user. A passageway or pocket 22 is thus provided at the unsecured intermediate portion 20.

A mattress cover 24 is provided enveloping the mattress and is provided with a passageway entrance opening having a separable fastener, a Zipper 26, for opening and closing the passageway 22 permitting a rigid plate 28 to be selectively inserted or removed from the passageway 22, a sleeve 30 being provided in the passageway 22 to facilitate the insertion or removal of the plate 28 into or out of the passageway 22 to thus provide an additional degree of firmness to whichever foam layer 12 or 14 may be uppermost and thus providing selective additional degrees of firmness for the mid-portion area 20 of the mattress 10 as may be desired by the occupant. In the case of a single bed foam mattress, only a single rigid plate 28 may be provided, so that the single occupant may add or omit this added firmness as desired, and only one separable fastener 26 need be provided at one end, although for convenience, as When a bed may be located adjacent a wall of the bedroom, a separable fastener 26 may be provided at both ends of the passageway 22.

In the case of a double bed mattress 10, such as illustrated in the drawing, two rigid plates 28 are provided, each extending halfway into the passageway 22, and a separable fastener 26 is thus provided at each end of the passageway 22 thus permitting each occupant to add or remove his or her rigid plate 28 as desired to thus add or omit the intermediate portion added firmness as individually desired. Suitable descriptive legends, such as FIRM or EXTRA FIRM may be added to the mattress cover on appropriate sides of the mattress 10 to facilitate selection of the desired degree firmness available to the user or occupant.

ABSTRACT OF DRAWING In the drawing, like reference numerals refer to like parts and for the purposes of explication, marshalled below are the reference numerals of this improved reversible foam mattress having different degrees of firmness:

reversible foam mattress 12 firm horizontal layer of foam material 14 extra firm horizontal layer of foam material 16 abutting end areas of 12 and 14 secured together 18 end area portions of mattress 10 20 intermediate area portion of mattress 10 22 passageway at intermediate area 20 2-4 mattress cover 26 separable fastener at end of passageway 22 28 rigid plate providing additional firmness 30 sleeve in 22 20 Although this invention has been described in considerable detail, such description is intended as being illustrative rather than limiting, since the invention may be variously embodied, and the scope of the invention is to be determined as claimed.

Having thus set forth and disclosed the nature of this invention, what is claimed is:

1. A reversible mattress comprising two horizontal layers of yieldably resiliently compressible foam material, said layers being secured together adjacent their ends, said layers being unsecured to each other at their intermediate portion between said secured ends thereof thereby providing a passageway therebetween, the material of one layer being of a different degree of firmness than the material of the other layer, rigid plate means removably inserted in said passageway between said layers thereby providing two additional degrees of firmness to the sur face area of the mattress over said passageway intermediate the secured ends of said layers of material, a mattress cover secured to and enveloping said mattress, and a sleeve extending into said passageway facilitating the insertion and removal of said rigid plate means therein, said passageway extending through a vertical side of said cover, said passageway extending through opposite vertical sides of said mattress, said rigid plate means comprising two separate rigid plates, each plate being separably insertable and removable through an end of said passageway, whereby the presence of only one inserted plate provides a different degree of firmness to the surface area of the mattress over the portion of said passageway containing the inserted plate than over the other portion of said passageway.

2. The mattress of claim 1, and whereby the presence or absence of both inserted plates provides the same degree of firmness to the surface area of the mattress over both portions of said passageway.

3. The mattress of claim 1, and separable fastening means closing said passageway at each end.

4. The mattress of claim 2, and separable fastening means closing each end of said passageway.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,089,154 5/1963 Boyles 5351 3, 110,042 11/1963 Slemmons 5-345 3,210,781 10/1965 Pollock 5-351 CASMIR A. NUNBERG, Primary Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 

